(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a assembly method and structure of an electronic clinical thermometer, and in particular to a clinical thermometer which can be disassembled or assembled as required, wherein one of the detachable modules such as the measuring body has an incomplete electronic clinical thermometer circuit lacking at least two elements, and these electronic elements are mounted within the other module such as the measuring probe, so that the two modules when attached together form a complete clinical thermometer for measuring the temperature of patients.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Before the invention of electronic thermometers, mercury thermometers were widely used for measuring body temperature. Mercury will expand when subject to heat and contract when subject to cold. When in measuring, the mercury in the measuring probe will expand so that the mercury will go into a capillary tube made of glass, so enabling a user to read the temperature on the graduation of the tube. In recent years, because of the serious danger of mercury pollution to human health, electronic thermometers have been developed, and have gradually replaced the mercury thermometers.
The working principle of the electronic thermometer comprises the steps of using a counter built in the integrated circuit to count the time required for an external RC oscillation circuit composed of reference resistor and capacitor to oscillate a certain number of oscillation as the reference time, switching a temperature sensor to the above-mentioned RC oscillation circuit to carry out RC oscillation, obtaining the number of oscillation in the reference time, and then converting the number of oscillation into digital signal through the internal operation of the microprocessor, and then transmitting the digital signal to the display to show the measured temperature.
When the RC oscillation circuit composed of the reference resistor and capacitor and the RC oscillation circuit composed of the temperature sensor and the same capacitor has the same oscillation frequency as the oscillator built in the integrated circuit under a specific condition, the preset temperature value (the general preset temperature is 37° C. or 98.6° F.) in the integrated circuit is obtained. With the temperature value obtained at the time when the oscillation frequencies are the same as the basis, the other temperature values represented by the difference between the two oscillation frequencies can be calculated. As the two oscillation circuits are using the same capacitor in rotation, if it is desired to keep the temperature difference after operation within a certain range (the environmental temperature is generally preset as follows: 25° C. for the reference resistor, and 37° C. for the temperature sensor), the resistance difference between the reference resistor and the temperature sensor should also be kept at the same range. The reference resistor and the temperature sensor of the conventional electronic thermometer are fixedly mounted on the measuring circuit board, so that the resistance matching result of the reference resistor and the temperature sensor cannot be replaced.
Electronic thermometers are not easily broken and hazardous to health, and can measure accurately. Furthermore, the time required for measuring is very short. So, the conventional mercury thermometer is gradually being replaced with electronic thermometers. With the progress in scientific technology and the improvement in living standards, the electronic thermometer is relied upon by many users, and has become a common first aid item in hospitals and households.
Because of the variety of viruses and bacteria present, people are seeking more sanitary conditions at home and in hospitals, together with more accurate readings of body temperature when using thermometers. A thermometer which is used solely by one person is ideally required, in order to prevent infections being passed on from one user to another of the thermometer. The electronic thermometers currently on the market are expensive, and so cannot be disposed of after use, and must be cleaned by means of a long, complicated sterilizing procedure before being able to be safely used again. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an assembly method and structure of an electronic clinical thermometer which divides the conventional temperature measuring circuit into two detachable sub-circuits. From the working principle of the electronic thermometer mentioned above, it is understood that if only the temperature sensor is isolated as an independent member, the resistance of the temperature sensor and the resistance of the reference resistor on the circuit board cannot keep within a predetermined range. That is to say, the independent member containing the temperature sensor is non-replaceable. In order to achieve the purpose of the present invention, this independent member must include at least two electronic components, i.e. the reference resistor and the temperature sensor.
Furthermore, when the temperature measured by the conventional electronic clinical thermometer is stabilized, the thermometer will produce an illuminated signal or will activate a buzzer for notifying the user of the peak temperature. Moreover, the display of most of the conventional thermometers does not have a backlight generator. Some conventional thermometers have a backlight generator, but the backlight generator can only give light for a very short period of time, so that when the user takes up the thermometer to read the temperature value, the backlight will be off thereby making it difficult to read the temperature and therefore causing much inconvenience in use.
Although the conventional electronic clinical thermometer is provided with a buzzer for making a humming sound to notify the user when a stabilized temperature value is obtained, the buzzer is structured with a sound case thus increasing the size of the thermometer.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an assembly method and structure of an electronic clinical thermometer which can obviate and mitigate the above-mentioned drawbacks.